October
by alexandrinedamaris
Summary: 31st October 1980, the final Halloween James and Sirius spend together.


_19:00 31_ _st_ _October 1980_

James pulled up the hood of his costume and tried not to snigger as he looked at himself in the full length mirror Sirius spend a good amount of his day gazing into. He was wearing a black fluffy onesie, clearly designed to resemble a large hairy dog; Sirius, specifically, as Padfoot. He pulled on the huge matching boots and gloves, scooped up Harry from where he was sitting happily on the bed, smashing various Duplo pieces together and giggling, and headed back downstairs into the living room taking two steps at a time.

Sprawled across his sofa, looking completely ridiculous in his werewolf costume he'd worn every year for the past five years after Sirius had teased him into it and reading one of Lily's many muggle novels, was Remus. He didn't look up when James walked in, but quickly bent over to pick Harry who'd crawled over to his as soon as James had lowered him to the floor. He scoffed at the baby's outfit.

"A pumpkin, James, really?" he said, bouncing Harry on his knee absent mindedly, smiling gently at the small boy.  
"It's all they had in his size, Moony," James said, his voice almost a whine. "Look at me."  
Remus did finally look up, his eyes meeting James before sweeping over his best friend's costume. He groaned, clearly exasperated as James grinned at him.  
"Don't I look great Moony?" he said, barely able to keep the laugh out of his voice.  
"You two are insufferable."  
"And yet here you are Moons," Sirius said as he entered the room, his voice a sarcastic drawl.  
James span around to see his gorgeous boyfriend dressed from head to toe as a deer, including the curved antlers and tiny ears he'd managed to somehow attach to his head, nestled in his dark hair. He winked when James laughed at him, and Remus groaned again.

As soon as his bright green eyes caught onto his other dad, Harry raised his arms above his head, clenching his tiny hands into fists in an obvious grabbing motion. Sirius moved forward to lift his baby boy and small hands went straight to pulling at the deer ears on his head.  
"Ow!" Sirius squeaked in surprise as James and Remus both laughed at him. He moved his son's hands away from his ears and looked reproachfully at Harry. "They're my ears!" Harry only giggled delightedly.  
"How did you even get them attached to your head?" James asked, moving to his boyfriend's side and running a hand through his long, silky hair.  
"They're my ears," he repeated as James poked at the place where the soft ears met his scalp.  
James snorted in surprise as he, like his son, pulled experimentally at the ears and Sirius jumped. "You didn't?" he asked, trying to hold back a laugh as he moved Sirius' hair away from the place where his ears should have been and found only smooth brown skin.  
"What have you done now Pads?" Remus asked, looking ever so slightly bereft without Harry in his arms.  
"He's transfigured his ears!" James cried out before Sirius had a chance to reply. "Are the antlers real too?" He stroked across the huge antlers protruding from Sirius' head, revelling in their smooth feel. From the way Sirius shivered lightly, they were.  
"Oh Si," he murmured softly, leaning forward to press his nose to Sirius' cheek in an effort to hide his grin.

"Oh it worked then," Lily cried in delight as she too entered their small living room. She was dressed, rather strangely, in long black robes, covered in silver pentagrams. Her auburn hair was streaked with black and a large traditional witches hat sat proudly atop her head, the rim so wide it almost reached the tip of her nose, which was decorated with a small green wart.

James's brows pulled together as he looked over his wife, hazel eyes roaming over her, trying to figure out what, exactly, she was supposed to be dressed as.  
"What is she supposed to be?" Sirius whispered out of one corner of his mouth, otherwise still grinning.  
"I'm what the Muggles think a witch looks like!" Lily said, though James wasn't sure if she'd heard him or just seen the bewildered look on their faces. At the explanation, James grinned enthusiastically, though he'd be lying of he said he understood. Why did Muggles think witches had warts on their noses?  
Sirius slipped an arm around her waist as she approached his other side, kissing her on the cheek. "You look lovely darling."  
"I'm not supposed to look lovely!" Lily laughed, leaning into Sirius's affections. "I'm supposed to look horrible!"  
"It would be impossible to make you look anything other than beautiful," James told her, running a hand down her back to meet Sirius's at her waist.  
Remus rolled his eyes. "You three sicken me."  
The three of them only grinned.

Eventually, after Lily explained to the three wizards what, exactly, Muggles thought witches looked like, ("Is that why Petunia doesn't like us?"  
"No, Si, she doesn't like you because there are two of you, and neither of you are white."  
"Oh.") they made it out of the house, Harry happiest, at the time, in Sirius's arms. James knew, though Sirius would never say so, that he rather liked it when Harry favoured him. It made him feel like the fact that he wasn't biologically his didn't matter so much. They stopped at each of the houses on their street, making jokes for Harry's treats, and letting the Muggles laugh at their costumes. James bristled with self-satisfaction when old Mrs. Bagshot couldn't figure out Lily's costume either, her frown deepening when Lily tried to explain.

"It's a shame Peter couldn't come," Remus commented as they came in, his voice quiet as to not rouse Harry, fast asleep in Sirius arms. Sirius didn't take Harry to bed when they sat down for a drink, or when Remus hugged him goodbye and the three adults and their baby squeezed onto their sofa, the cat sitting on the back.

"I don't want to go." It was barely a whisper, but James's heart broke anyway.  
"We don't want you to go either," Lily said, her head resting on Sirius's shoulder. "I wish we could be just the four of us all the time."  
"We will be, when its all over, I promise," James said. "I love both of you so much."  
"We love you too," Sirius told him, Lily nodding her agreement.


End file.
